Prodigal Children
by VisualIDentificationZeta
Summary: SUMMARY: Zan could swear on his pet hcir's grave that he's never before met Kiria d'Vsiur'ke, but the soul looking back at him from her eyes was familiar. Check inside for warnings. COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

TITLE: Prodigal Children

AUTHOR: Vid Z.

TIMELINE: Season 4, ep Prodigy

PAIRING: Jack/Hailey

**WARNINGS:** character deaths, but not really, they don't die for good. I never kill my fav characters for good. Just read and find out!

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc of the TV show Stargate: SG-1 are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this fic. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

SUMMARY: Zan could swear on his pet hcir's grave that he's never before met Kiria d'Vsiur'ke, but the soul looking back at him from her eyes was familiar. Check inside for warnings.

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Their relief to have survived was short lived.

As they were still congratulating each other Jack's keen ears caught a perplexed murmur of one of the SFs. "What's that glowing thing there?"

Dread already filling his stomach he glanced back towards the Gate where his eyes quickly found the small golden light buzzing around, seemingly confused at the change of environment.

Suddenly the light shot out in his general direction and, upon quickly looking to his side, he saw it's target was Hailey.

Since shouting a warning and waiting for her to respond would take too long he simply yelled "Get down!" to the whole assembly and dove for the diminutive Cadet.

He got to her just in time, knocking her to the ground and covering her body with his own, as the alien firefly shot through the air where Jennifer had been just a moment before.

Beneath him Jennifer's eyes widened when she saw the firefly zoom over them, then a sick look came to her face when the firefly suddenly engaged into the beginning of a loop who's completion took only a fraction of a second.

Jack and Jennifer had time to only look into each other's eyes as the firefly completed the loop and shot downward, piercing both their hearts with one swoop, making the last sight either of them saw, before they died, each other.

It was as if a bullet from a Kalashnikov was tearing through his body and he knew the moment his heart had been ravaged. The pain was overwhelming, yet he had no strength to vocalize it. His sight began to dim, his senses and body shutting down, when he saw the corresponding look of immesurable pain in the brave Cadet's eyes under him. For that brief moment in time they saw eternity in each other's eyes. In the microsecond before he died a strange throught went through his oxygen deprived brain that it was somehow fitting that they'd died in each other's arms, holding their gazes into eternity. It was selfish, but he'd never wanted to die alone. Then there was only dark and he knew no more.

The neck muscles of the body that had once been Jack O'Neill, which were keeping his head up, relaxed and his head fell forward, his forehead settling on the forehead of the young woman beneath him, their sightless eyes locked together in death.

The assembled members of the SGC could only watch with horror as the firefly did a loop that would make a Top Gun Graduate proud and spear two of their own.

Jack and Jennifer's dead bodies twitched a couple of times as they sagged bonelessly. There was no doubt they were dead and the knowledge slammed into the survivors. They could see a large pool of blood forming beneath their two former comrades as Sam's agonized wail rang out. "Noooo! God no!"

Suddenly the lightbug appeared near the main Embarkation room fuse and leeched power from the system, making lights and computers flicker. In a last, suicidal attack of madness and rage it shot itself towards the bodies of the two soldiers and, upon colliding with them, burst into flames which quickly spread over the two corpses.

The heat of the flames was immense, not letting anyone get close, but as quickly as it had started it also died out, having exhausted it's fuel. Thankfully the two soldiers had already handed over their weapons and ammunition before they'd perished, otherwise the from-the-heat-of-the-fire exploding bullets could've killed someone. The stench of burnt flesh, bones and vaporized bodily fluids filled the huge room until the powerful ventilation system kicked in and sucked it out.

General Hammond, the surviving members of SG-1, the scientists that had been on the planet, Sergeants Harriman and Siler, SF's, the Embarkation room and Control room crews could only stare helpless at the huge pile of ashes that had once been the 2IC of the facility and a young, promising Cadet.

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TBC, this is not the end. I know it started out angstily, but have no fear this is not the end of Jack and Jennifer!

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	2. Chapter 2

This is a revised chapter, with a few elements changed.

No doubt at least a few of you wondered why I gave the ability to pierce a human body as a bullet to the fireflies. As explained in my response to Musings-of-Apathy's review I'm taking a stand that the fireflies never created any visible injuries to people (like, entry and exit holes, blood,...) because if they had done that would've dramatically upped the rating of the episode, thus it not being permitted to be aired during prime time, and thus eliminating the reason for the ep even having been filmed. As far as I remember I never saw any realistic injuries on the show (bullet holes, ugly burns, blood, gore, severed limbs,...) because that would automatically up the rating of the show and narrow the audience, which would be in direct construct to what the producers wanted and the no-injuries-from-fireflies-visible for the same reason. Therefore I decided to make them more realistic, that's why the firefly acted as a bullet and that's why the blood. As for why they were turned to ashes it will be revealed in this chapter.

I was never at the funeral of a US military member, what I know of it is from movies and the net, so please excuse the errors. The flyover thing that I wrote differently than it normally looks like it's that way because I wanted it, it's not an unintentional mistake.

Thanks to Yasmine Lupin, Eternal Density and Musings-of-Apathy for their reviews and I hope to get more for this chapter.

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SEVERAL DAYS LATER

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

"... Many of you probably wonder why they're buried this way, seeing as they weren't married and weren't even dating. The whole arrangement makes weird the single fact that they'd known each other for only a few hours before they'd died." said Daniel 30 minutes into his eulogy, which while it was moving and heartfelt, it was still _long._

Perhaps he wanted to say goodbye to his old friend by recreating one of his briefings, the ones Jack had always dreaded... Or he just liked the sound of his own voice, or he just wanted to put off the final farewell for a while longer. No-one knew the answer, not even the man himself. They had no priest to do his thing at a funeral because Daniel was sure that Jack would've haunted his ass for years had they had one and no-one had any clue as to Jennifer's religious preferences as nothing stood in her personal file about them.

Being talked about when you're dead is bad enough, but to have a person who until a few days ago didn't even know you existed, much less knew you, talking about you as if they had been your best friend just takes the cake. And cookies. And milk. And the whole damn cutlery. As Jack had never gone to Church, nor knew any priest, no priest had known Jack O'Neill and definitely not enough to give a genuine speech about him.

"I'm sad to admit I didn't know Jennifer Hailey until that faithful day. Neither did Jack. As it happens so many times, Fates had brought these two people together only for them to die together. It makes a person wonder why we're actually here, what our purpose is. Is our purpose of life the way we live, things we do in our lives, the people who's lives we touch? Or is it the way we die? Is life our purpose or is it death? We will never know the answer as we won't know the purpose to Jack and Jennifer's lives. Perhaps they really _had_ been born to die in each other's arms. Neither Jack nor Jennifer had any living blood-family, because it turns out they were both children of the system. You know, I never knew that about Jack. We were best friends for 5 years and I never knew that. But no matter how they lived, or what their purpose was, they died together, in each other's arm."

He looked down at the single plot his best friend was sharing with the practically-unknown Cadet at Arlington National Cemetery. It had raised quite a few eyebrows when he'd come up and then stubbornly insisted on these arrangements and it had also taken strings pulling to have two unmarried people buried in the same plot. There had been no problem with getting a plot for Jack. The man had after all been a hero, a Colonel with 25 years of service under his belt, a distinguished career, a barn full of medals. No, the problem had been having them buried together.

But it couldn't have been helped, after all, after the inferno had ended there had been impossible to say who was who, for only lumps of dark, faceless ashes had been left behind. Dividing those ashes and whimsically claiming that that pile had been Jack and the other Jennifer would've amounted to defilement in anyone's eyes and Daniel would've never allowed that to be done to his best friend, nor to the young woman he had not had a chance to get to know. Because of that they'd been buried in a single large urn in a single plot.

Daniel sent a brief glance at Sam, still in the dark as to why she'd fought him, wanting Jack to be buried by himself.

In the end, two white crosses bearing the names of the deceased marked the resting places of a seasoned warrior and of a scientist who's life had not yet even begun before it had been cut short.

"May they find the peace in their eternity together that they didn't in this life."

On this cue, Taps sounded from a lone bugler, standing on a rise about 150 feet away, and the honor guard began folding the flags.

The flags were folded one after another and the leader of the honor guard presented the first one to Daniel, in absence of Jack's ex-wife who had re-married 2 years ago and was now living somewhere in Europe.

Jack had revised his Will a few years back, taking Sara out of it since she had received half of their possessions in the divorce and after that regular payments of alimony, half of his paycheck, until she'd remarried after which she was no longer entitled to it by law. He had thus left a few things to each member of SG-1, with the main benefficiary being Cassie Fraiser, who'd been crying her eyes out ever since she'd heard the news of his demise and was now standing in the first row, still crying. The man had been like a father to her, which is why she had secretly wanted him to become her father for real by marrying her new mother, Janet. And now she'd lost yet another father and her world had shattered again. Janet had tears running down her cheeks as well, over the years she had come to silently love the Colonel, but had never done anything out of respect for her best friend Sam. Now, standing over his grave, she dearly regretted years of wasting every chance she had. She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder and looked back at Teal'c who was honoring the warrior's code and looking after his fallen brother's family. He had a tough time of it, since Jack had no official family, yet was a father to a young girl and two different women had held torches for him. Who should get priority? The mother of the girl who'd been like a daughter to Jack or the woman who had never allowed him to be more than just a CO to her? Life of the Jaffa was simply put complicated.

Daniel took the flag together with Jack's pilot wings and only half listened to the leader of the honor guard.

"As a representative of the United States Air Force, it is my high privilege to present you this flag. Let it be a symbol of the grateful appreciation this nation feels for the distinguished service rendered to our country and our flag by your loved one."

He felt Sam's fiery gaze burn a hole through his head as he accepted the flag, she believed she was supposed to get it, she was the one for whom Jack had had feelings for and she was the one who had had still-undefined unwanted feelings for the man. But Sam still had a career before her and Daniel knew that bringing to light this convulted mess of feelings by having her get the flag would just endanger it. It was better this way.

The second flag was presented to Jennifer's roommate at the Academy, a young girl who couldn't stop the tears that had been drenching her pale cheeks in torrents for the entire ceremony, and was thus one of the few still emotionally correctly-functional people at the funeral, not yet twisted by the military society's view on emotions. Her boyfriend was holding her slim, shaking frame tightly in his arms, offering her whatever support and comfort he could.

The honor guard then moved away in preparation for their gun salute.

Keeping as still as a statue, not letting any feelings show, Sam still jumped at every volley from the 7 rifles, no matter how used she was to the sound of weapon fire. She still hadn't forgiven Daniel for not having conceded to Jack being buried alone, preferrably in Colorado Springs. That way, when she died, she could be buried next to or near him. She had not taken into consideration the fact that, had he not died, she had not loved him enough to wait for a few years till they could be together, but would, impatient as she was, abandon him and look for someone else instead. Even before Jack had died, Sam's eyes, body and hormones had lost interest in Jack and focused on every guest star of the week, be it alien or human. Thus, there was no way she and Jack would've spent the eternity resting together.

Just as the honor guard took the weapons from their shoulders a low rumbling could be heard in the distance.

As the group of planes approached the assembled mourners were surprised at the size of it.

It seemed like a whole Squadron had turned up. Most of the planes were F-15 Eagles, US military's best active service airplane, that only the best of the best are allowed to fly, followed by F-16 Falcons (also called Lawn Darts) and even a few F-117 Nighthawks, who reminded them all that most of Jack's career had been like these planes, stealthy and enshrouded in secrecy. The group of 25 planes did a low-level flyover and, when people looked closely, they could clearly see the conspicuous large spot, where the missing man was missing.

Unaware of the superstition that it's bad luck to look at the formation, Daniel's eyes had observed the huge group of planes as they'd kept on coming and a shiver had run down his body when he saw the empty spot in the formation, instinctivelly knowing that was for Jack. He wasn't alone. Most of the congregation couldn't help themselves and watched the group fly over their heads. When burying a former air-crew it's usually just the four-man formation that does a flyover, a larger group turns up only when someone truly respected had died and Jack HAD been respected.

Until then Daniel, Teal'c and Sam had had no idea just how well known and respected Jack had been among the Spec Ops and pilot community, but this demonstration of respect had clued them in. These were all the men Jack had flown with, had worked with, had painted targets with hand-held laser designators to bomb for, men Jack had rescued after they'd been shot down over Iraq,... and they'd now come to pay their respect and say a final farewell to a man they would never forget.

Still shaken from the sight the group of officers, enlisted and civilians alike broke up and a line was formed as they paid their respects to the dead.

The rest of SG-1, together with Janet and Cassie, stayed behind, a group, yet each alone in their grief, for with the exception of Janet and Cassie who had each other. Others didn't know how to turn to someone else for comfort.

The future looked dark and scary and they didn't know how they would carry on.

Jack was gone forever and without one of it's vital members SG-1 was no more.

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	3. Chapter 3

High up on Mount Ólympos in his cloaked palace Zeus was sitting on his throne. Turning to his son, Hermes, he ordered. "Intercept the souls of recently dead Jack O'Neill and Jennifer Hailey before they get to Hades. Then put them on this remote planet in this far-away system," a holographic representation of the planet appeared in thin air "have them be born within 3 years at most of each other and then come back."

The messenger of the gods nodded and his winged sandals carried him away, while the main god sank back in satisfaction.

These two were special, special enough to warrant putting them among the living once again. No-one except Zeus knew, but the purpose of this lifetime of theirs had been to just meet and get to know each other, nothing more. This was one of those times when he was able to get the Fates to cooperate on something. They'd namely already decided that these two souls would play a major part in the history of another planet, Earth wasn't their real home and their real life, and, considering the situation they would be thrust into, Zeus had thought it was best if they knew each other from another lifetime already. Much depended on them not only cooperating, but also liking their next life.

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19 YEARS LATER

PLANET P54-5124

18 year old Zan d'Tinqu'cs was nervous. His chocolate brown eyes flitted across the main reception room in his father's chateau. He was about to meet his bethroted for the first time, the woman who'd been decided to be his wife before she'd even been born.

Her father was the king of the other kingdom on the planet and their marriage was supposed to bring peace between the two kingdoms that had been at war for over 350 years.

He was completely oblivious to his father's concerned, stern glances, as much as he was unaware of the looks the rest of the court and others there for the ceremony were sending him.

Just then the page announced the arrival of the other king and his entourage.

Zan's heartbeat picked up drastically and apprehension filled him.

What if he didn't like her? What if she was dumb and obnoxious? Shallow? Or intelligent, but extremely unpleasant, mean? Bitchy? What if she was ugly? It's not as if he could just give her back and request a refund or a replacement or even dump her and look for another... He would be stuck with her for life, whether he wanted to or not.

Quickly he dismissed his thoughts. It didn't really matter if he liked her or found her desirable or not.

Once they'd get married he was supposed to get her pregnant and this way insure peace on the planet. He and she weren't really important as persons in the grand scheme of things, they just had a role to play, important was the peace their people would finally enjoy with the ending of the war, and the children they would have to produce. He and she were just a walking sperm bank and a living incubator, they were nothing more to the planet. And if she was ugly or in any other way undesirable, then he would just order the computer to turn off the room's illumination and picture a gorgeous supermodel while they had the sex to produce an offspring. It's not like he would have to share the bed with her forever or live with her on a daily basis! She would just be his wife, not his life partner, much less soul mate. It had always been like that for the royalty. Each would have their own room and they'd just have to spend a few minutes a week together, only what was required for appearances and to have sex a couple of times to create heirs to the joint throne. This practice for day-to-day life of couples who were wedded into political marriages and even of commoners married into arranged marriages was common across the galaxy. Even some married couples who married each other voluntarily and enthusiastically had their own bedrooms and slept in their own beds.

Before his eyes the 10 ton steel doors parted swiftly with a hiss, powerful engines pulling them apart like they weighed nothing.

Right that second he was infinitely grateful for his planet's highly advanced technological level. His personal heater/cooler was working as efficiently as ever and what little sweat had managed to escape had been eliminated by the zeoxan fibers of his ceremonial uniform.

Then the moment of truth came and Zan let out a relieved exhale.

Well, she passed the first test. Namely the physical one. She maybe wasn't a supermodel, but she was still a beautiful young woman with a great figure and that dress showed it off quite well. She was younger, he could see, files said two years younger, but that didn't matter because they wouldn't be getting married nor have sex until she was 18, the legal age on his planet.

He could see she was checking him out just as intensely and he unconsciously took in a deep breath to puff up.

The world dissolved around him except for the girl across him and he went through the ceremonies, protocol and pleasantries on autopilot.

The person looking back at him was definitely spirited, if the fire in her gaze had anything to say about it and obviously liking this just as much as he was.

She was also clearly very intelligent. Which could be a VERY bad combination in a wife. An intelligent wife with a temper as volatile as his can be a bad thing, because it could mean a lot of fights and disagreement in the future. He hoped not. He hoped they'd get along and have a long, successful and happy marriage (well, as happy as it could be) because he sure as hell didn't want to spend the rest of his life miserable. Having to marry someone he didn't love was bad enough, but to have to spend the rest of his life in an actively unhappy and turbulent marriage would be just too much.

But there was something about her eyes. They were brown, like his, yet they somehow seemed familiar. As if he somehow already knew the person looking back at him and as if she for some equally strange reason already knew him. But he could swear on his pet hcir's grave that he had never before met Kiria d'Vsiur'ke, yet the soul looking back at him still seemed awfully familiar. As if he had known her in another life...

As if they were somehow connected, on a much deeper level than even he, a member of the Staniuq society of exceptionally intelligent people, could understand.

As she put her small hand into his bigger one trustingly, yet confidently, Zan had one of those flashes of undeniable and infallible knowledge. Somehow he knew that they wouldn't need separate bedrooms, nor that making love and creating babies would be a chore they would engage in only unwillingly because he was suddenly quite sure they'd been fated to be together. He also had the feeling that the life to come would no doubt prove to be very interesting and lively.

The two fathers glanced at each other in smug satisfaction, the entranced looks in their children's gazes had not escaped their keen eyes. It seemed as if everything would turn out great.

Invisible to everyone else, Zeus was standing next to Zan and Kiria, nodding to himself, pleased. He had been right. He was the main god, head of a divine patriarchy, after all.

As he left he was already making plans for future lives in which he would stick these two together to accomplish more great and important things. Together, of course.

If they met his expectations he fully intended to use them many more times, because these two had true potential.

They were his prodigal children after all...

THE END

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